Implement auto-increment with Amazon DynamoDB

This article explains two approaches to implement auto-incrementing IDs or sequence numbers in Amazon DynamoDB, which does not have a built-in auto-increment feature.

Specifically, the article covers:

• Using an atomic counter: Increment a counter item to get the next value, then use that value as the ID when adding a new item.
• Using a sort key: Query for the maximum sort key value in an item collection, then add a new item with the next value as the sort key.
• Comparison of the two approaches in terms of cost, throughput limits, and handling potential gaps or race conditions.
• Conclusion that these methods can be used when a randomly generated ID is not suitable and an incrementing sequence is required.